Media Release 27 October 2011

Irish singer/songwriter performs live at The National Concert Hall as part of ESB LIVE 2011

The captivating and emotive Irish singer/songwriter Cara Dillon performs with her band as part of ESB LIVE 2011 at The National Concert Hall, Friday 25 November 8pm. Whether she’s singing her native traditional songs of lost love and emigration, or her original compositions, you will be hard press to find a more sensitive and captivating performer.

Cara’s latest , was voted Album of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and last year saw her launch her debut live DVD ‘Cara Dillon – Live at the Grand Opera House’ as well as contributing to the most recent Disney Tinker Bell movie.

Cara also featured on the DVD recording from the latest BBC TV series, ‘’ which brought together the best of Nashville, Ireland and Scotland to perform. Artists included Joan Osborne, , Fred Morrison, Michael McGoldrick, , , , and Phil Cunningham and many more.

Backed by husband on guitar and piano and a tight circle of bodhran-players and flautists, Cara’s staggeringly beautiful voice has the ability to imbue material with not only profound sweetness but also poignancy and depth.

A native of , Co. Derry, Cara grew up surrounded by traditional Irish music and by songs passed down from her grandmother. At just 14 years of age she won the All-Ireland Singing Trophy and a year later had formed Oige, a traditional group comprising friends and fellow musicians from Dungiven. A short time later she was recruited to replace in folk super-group Equation alongside the three brothers Seth, Sam and .

The last ten years has seen Dillon embrace more commercial folk-pop crossover material until a family crisis led her to retreat and re-embrace the Irish music icons, such as and the Bothy Band that originally inspired her.

The Guardian Review of her concert in The Queen Elizabeth Hall in March 2011 declared "...her voice is a thing of wonder: a warm yet precise tool that locks into the expansive humanity at the heart of these ancient songs. On Johnny, Lovely Johnny and Jimmy Mó Mhíle Stór, she superbly evokes the hollow ache of unrequited love, while her gentle reworking of the old standard P Is for Paddy is captivating... these songs hang in the ether, and Dillon's best moment comes when she stands alone on stage to croon the haunting a capella air Fil, Fil A Run Ó. In taking a step back to her roots, Dillon has made a creative great leap forward."

Cara Dillon live at the National Concert Hall as part of ESB LIVE 2011 is supported by Independent Newspapers and Today FM

ESB LIVE 2011 presents CARA DILLON Friday 25 Nov 2011, 8pm at the National Concert Hall Featuring Sam Lakeman, piano/acoustic guitar Ed Boyd, acoustic guitar Brian Finnegan, whistle/flute

Tickets: €30, €35 (Choir Balcony €20) 10% group discount available. 20% discount for Friends of the National Concert Hall.

Tel: 01 417 00 00 or ONLINE (no booking fees)

For further information please contact: Sinead Doyle, Marketing & PR Manager, Tel: 01 417 00 57 087 1775334